Policy Brief December 2010

What to Expect from the

QDDR Release
For more information, Next week, the Obama administration is expected to release the most
please contact: comprehensive review of U.S. development and diplomacy efforts in
half a century. The system which now delivers U.S. foreign assistance
Todd Shelton
Senior Director is based on legislation that was signed into law by President John F. Kennedy in
Public Policy 1961. Since then, there have been hundreds of amendments and executive orders
InterAction but no comprehensive assessment of how the two major civilian components of our
tshelton@interaction.org foreign policy work together to support America’s national interests around the
Filmona Hailemichael world. Called the Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review (QDDR), it is
Coordinator being released ahead of the 50th anniversary next year of the original Foreign
Public Policy Assistance Act and the creation of the U.S. Agency for International Development
InterAction (USAID).
fhailemichael@interaction.org

The hundred-plus page QDDR is the culmination of a 17-month review involving

hundreds of State Department and USAID staff. It is expected to include the imprint
of Secretary Hillary Clinton's new “civilian power” strategy, detailed in her recent
essay in Foreign Affairs magazine, in which diplomacy and development are
closely coordinated to achieve U.S. interests and global security. By clearly
articulating diplomacy and development’s contributions to security, the Secretary of
State hopes to convince Congress to support the budgets of both the State
Department and USAID.

A recently leaked summary of the QDDR offers insight into what will become the
short-, medium-, and long-term blueprint for U.S. diplomatic and development
efforts. Based on what we’ve seen so far, InterAction expects the final report to
reinforce other recent U.S. government efforts to modernize U.S. foreign
assistance, namely the Presidential Policy Directive on Global Development (PPD)
and USAID’s internal reform agenda called USAID Forward. The QDDR, along with
these other reform measures, is significant because it will underscore development
as a priority in achieving U.S. national interests and the benefits in making its
delivery more effective and measurable.

InterAction hopes the final report will retain some of the elements highlighted below
while at the same time address our concerns.

www.InterAction.org Highlights of the QDDR Summary

1400 16th Street, NW
Suite 210 Support for Strengthening USAID: The draft QDDR supports USAID’s internal
Washington, DC 20036 efforts to bolster its policy leadership, build budget capacity, increase mid-level
202.667.8227 hiring, institute procurement reform and introduce a new evaluation policy.
Increased Recognition of USAID’s Role as the U.S.
Government’s Lead Development Agency: USAID
will assume leadership of President Barack Obama’s
Global Hunger and Food Security Initiative and, in
time, will lead the administration’s Global Health
Initiative. Albeit with State’s oversight, the draft QDDR
also gives USAID new authorities to prepare a
comprehensive USAID budget proposal by FY13 and
to formulate the development component of integrated
country strategies.
Focus on High Impact Development: The draft
summary embraces some of the core aid effectiveness
principles that InterAction has long supported,
including broad-based country ownership of projects,
donor coordination, monitoring and evaluation,
managing for results, transparency, and gender
integration.
Concerns and Remaining Questions
Potentially Competing Humanitarian Assistance
Structures: There is concern that the proposed new
State Department Office of the Under Secretary for
Civilian Security, Democracy and Human Rights may
compete with the already existing Bureau for
Democracy, Conflict and Humanitarian Assistance at
USAID. On humanitarian action, the proposed
distinction between natural disaster response, to be
the purview of USAID, and response to protracted,
conflict-driven emergencies, to be led by State, is far
from clear, as the current case of Pakistan
demonstrates. Furthermore, for the time being, civilian
emergency response capability lies almost exclusively
with USAID, raising the issue of whether the State
Department is in a position to lead the U.S.
government response to humanitarian emergencies.
summary’s omission of any reference to “poverty” is a
troubling indication of the shifting priorities that may
emerge in the final QDDR.
A Narrow Definition of Development Partners: Non-
governmental organizations (NGOs) are recognized as
influential, non-state actors; however, they are not
included in the list of entities for partnership. NGOs
play a crucial role in building local capacity, leveraging
billions of dollars in private resources and bringing
innovation to the development sector. InterAction
would like to see the QDDR embrace the President’s
Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood
Partnerships’ calling for “a new era of collaborative
partnership between the U.S. Government and
community-based U.S. NGOs toward our shared goal
of global development.”
Longevity of Reforms: The draft summary does not
include a plan for working with Congress to codify its
reforms in legislation. If final QDDR recommendations
to elevate development and strengthen USAID are to
outlive the Obama administration, the State
Department will need to collaborate with aid reform
champions in Congress to institutionalize these
changes.
InterAction applauds the administration’s efforts to
strengthen and reform U.S. foreign assistance, and we
look forward to the release of the QDDR final report.

Balancing Long-Term Development Outcomes and

Short-Term Diplomatic Objectives: The inherent
tension in the draft mirrors what has happened over
the past 17 months of the QDDR process—namely
how to “build USAID as the world's premier
development agency” on the one hand, and integrate
both the diplomatic and development components into
what is being called “civilian power” on the other. With
State Department officials being granted ultimate
oversight of development strategies and budget
proposals, what is to prevent the prioritization of short-
term political objectives over long-term development
outcomes, namely poverty elimination? The